20 String single neck Emmons!

[Charles Curtis]

Is this guitar still around?

[Bernie Gonyea]

Now you have all of us wondering about this guitar; does it belong to any of you steel players.? The closest I've ever had the pleasure of seeing & heard played was in Shot Jackson's work shop in the early sixties. I had taken my D-10 in to have Shot's men add a couple of pedals & knee levers. While in his shop, I was wandering around to kill time; low & behold, way in the back, a man was building a fourteen [ 14 ] string Sho- Bud, on special order for someone. What a beauty it was. But it was not a double stringed one. And the guy building it was no amateur, in playing it.
It would be great to see that steel album re-released by Buddy. and his friends. Bernie

[Alan Brookes]

I built a double-neck 24-string non-pedal console steel last year. One neck is tuned E6 in Octaves, and the other E6 in unison.

I built a similar model in 1972 but only strung up one neck.

When I figure out the best place to host photos I'll post a picture.

A lot of water has gone under the bridge since that last posting. Here's a picture of the instrument I was talking about.


I also built a multiple-course instrument for Basil Henriques about three years ago.

[Joachim Kettner]

Alan, did you have any special kind of music in mind, that would suit the instruments best?

[Alan Brookes]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYWLDLJJvzQ

I originally was thinking of Hawaiian music. I noticed that a lot of time Hawaiian guitarists are playing octaves by plucking two strings at a time. With octave strings you can play octaves with just one finger.

If you watch the above video, which I shot in Basil's studio, he's using it for classical music. I understand that Basil has plans for an entire album played on that instrument, but I don't know what material he will select.

For decades I've been building Board Zithers of various sorts... Hummels, Epinettes des Vosges, Scheitholdts, Mountain Dulcimers, etc. Board zithers have a lot in common with lap steels, in that they are played across the lap and fingered from above, sometimes with a tone bar called a noter.
In fact there are many who maintain that the origin of the Hawaiian guitar is the Board Zither.
Check the following thread...

http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopi ... ght=hummel

All board zithers have multiple courses, so when I built my first double-coursed lap steel in 1972 I followed suit. In fact I once built a convertible mountain dulcimer, with interchangeable fingerboards and an electric pickup. By removing the fingerboard it became a lap steel.

[Curt Langston]

Once again, IMO, this evinces the genious of Ron Lashley Sr. in producing this guitar. How long will it take before Ron Sr. will take his place in the SGHOF?

This will never happen.

[Joachim Kettner]

Quote:
If you watch the above video, which I shot in Basil's studio, he's using it for classical music.

I really like the sound of the instrument and the musical context in which it is used.